Legal Week

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

In a recent blog I asked why the legal industry was sizing up outsourcing to foreign countries such as India when, in the UK at least, the market has failed to effectively utilise lower-cost regional centres. It seems to be one extreme or the other - either you can hire the most expensive lawyers in the world, or go halfway around the globe to instruct, if not quite the cheapest, then not far off. Fair enough if the numbers add up, but what about the options in the middle?

By Legal Week

2 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

Preparing students for the post-recession landscape was the theme of the day at a recent College of Law get-together...

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3 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

In the current business environment, the importance of managing and developing client relationships has never been more centre stage; particularly as new business is so hard to come by in a tight, highly competitive market and losing a big client can have such a massive impact.

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4 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

DLA Piper and Reed Smith take on the practice issues as Alex Aldridge investigates legal careers in the public sector.

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1 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

A media company which went bankrupt last week has filed a $136m (£83m) malpractice suit against Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, reports The Am Law Daily. US company MIG has alleged that a mistake in an offering document written by Paul Weiss in the late 1990s ended up costing the company about $136m a decade later.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

A handful of City firms have won roles on the largest European leveraged buyout (LBO) so far this year. Ashurst, Allen & Overy (A&O), Macfarlanes and Dickson Minto all advised on as Charterhouse Capital Partners' £553m LBO of Candover-owned energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

By Legal Week

2 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

I started my criminal pupillage 18 months after finishing the BVC. Any thoughts I had of knowing what I was doing after the BVC went straight out of the window and I felt out of my depth very early on. It didn't take long, however, to feel comfortable in my wig and gown (although I'm sure I looked like a child playing dress-up) and to know what was expected of me. One of my first tasks was to read through transcripts in a child sexual abuse case - this opened my eyes to the type of cases my pupil master regularly dealt with and made me realise I'd have to have a strong stomach to come through unscathed.

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5 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

Baker & McKenzie has appointed a new chief financial officer (CFO) with the hire of Mark Carter from Allen & Overy. Carter replaces Arthur Ferry, who is set to leave the firm in the coming months after two years in the role. Ferry's next move is not known.

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2 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have won lead roles as mining giants Anglo American and Xstrata discuss a potential merger worth £41bn. Anglo-Swiss group Xstrata confirmed yesterday (21 June) that it had approached the board of Anglo American about a possible union, describing a merger between the two as "highly compelling".

By Legal Week

2 minute read

June 22, 2009 | International Edition

Pinsent Masons has signed an outsourcing deal which will see the top 20 UK firm send litigation work to South Africa. The major regional player has launched a litigation support service in co-operation with global legal processing outsourcing provider Exigent, with the work to be undertaken by qualified lawyers in Exigent's outsourcing centre in Cape Town. Pinsents has outsourced document processing to Exigent for a number of years, but will now also see the company provide a data review and e-disclosure capability for its 360-lawyer litigation practice.

By Legal Week

2 minute read